The Internet is increasingly becoming a primary source of information individuals first look to in order to obtain information, goods and services. For example, online shopping allows an individual to virtually visit a store, to view and purchase the various articles for sale, which would then be sent to the individual. In this manner, an individual can purchase virtually any number of goods and/or services over the Internet without the need ever having to physically visit a particular location. Likewise, rather than look through a phone book or any other directory to find information, individuals are increasingly looking to search engines on the Internet. As a result of this shift to Internet, traditional forms of advertising are becoming less and less effective as more individuals use the Internet. For example, rather than consult the local phone book or yellow pages for commercial listings, an individual uses a search engine. As a result, fewer and fewer people see the advertisements displayed in the local phone book such that, the value of such an advertisement is greatly reduced.
With the increasing focus of attention on the Internet, companies have sought ways of monetizing this increasingly important form of consumer contact. One of the primary ways of accomplishing this is to sell ad space on a webpage. Many websites, in fact, are provided completely free of charge and derive substantially all of their revenues from selling advertising on their web page. For example, while news services traditionally sold newspapers, with associated advertisements placed in the newspapers, increasingly individuals are looking to the Internet to obtain news. Due to the Internet's relatively low costs and low barriers to entry, many news websites are provided free of charge, therefore, the need to derive advertising revenue is critical. However, there is only a limited about of valuable advertising space available on any single web page that can effectively capture a user's attention and focus. This is due to user behavioral patterns and their confines and limitations which stem from the nature of human interaction with online digital media. In other words, the web page designer/operator actually has limited space inventory available that is well placed and thus well monetizable that may be sold for advertising, in addition to the space needed for the primary application of the web page (e.g., presentation of news articles for a news website).
Another problem the web page designer/operator(s) must deal with is the need for more cost-efficient, user-friendly systems that present commercial and/or promotional information to users in a manner that is easier for the user to obtain and manipulate, and minimally impacts or interferes with other functions and/or visual representations on the web page. In other words, it is preferable that an advertisement presented to a user allow the user to obtain information about the product/service without navigating the user away from the current webpage.
Still further, with the incredibly large amount of information on the Internet, consumers need relevant, comprehensive, and updated information on products and services that is visibly accessible, intuitively generated, and user-friendly consumed.